How to catch trout

Trout fishing was one of my favorite pastimes until I made the move to tropical Australia where the only trout fishing available is coral trout on the tropical saltwater reefs (not that I am complaining though!)

There are a few species of trout that are caught recreationally, but the most important recreational trout species would be the rainbow and brown trout. Both species grow big, fight hard and take flies, which makes fly fishing the most popular form of targeting these magnificent fish.

Fly fishing for trout
There is much written on the subject of fly fishing for trout so I wont go much further into the area. Basically fly fishing for trout has been around almost as long as the trout itself and is not only a traditional method of catching these fish, but can be great fun too! The basic premise of fly fishing is to present a recreation of the natural food the trout are eating in fly form to entice them to bite.

Other forms of trout fishing
While dedicated fly anglers may find this sacrilegious, there are many other ways to catch trout and some can even be more successful than fly fishing at times. Many anglers use natural baits to catch trout (either under a float or on the bottom) and there is a growing number of anglers using soft rubber baits and hard body lures.

Whichever method you decide to use the pursuit of these wonderful fish will take you to some of the best locations in the world with the awesome scenery you are unlikely to forget!

My holiday fishing report

My regular readers would have noticed that I haven't made a post for a couple of days and I have been on a fishing holiday with my old man and my wife. We rented a cabin on a local lake and fished right from our front door. I haven't had much luck in the freshwater before and really only expected a relaxing trip with a couple of fish. Relaxing wasn't quite the word I would use as the fishing went off with a bang. Over 5 days we caught about 20 great fish and over 7 species in total. I managed my very first tarpon (albeit the smaller pacific version) and I now understand why people pay tens of thousands of dollars to visit South America to catch these fish! We caught 12 big Saratoga, which are a prehistoric looking fish found in the northern parts of Australia and give a spectacular leaping fight. I didn't manage to capture any video this trip, but here are some pictures of the trip (I am having trouble uploading - check back soon):